Teachable moment in classrooms:
- endocrine system chapter – concept of hormones interacting with receptors in order to change cell behavior
- brain chapter – anatomy and function of hypothalamus
- metabolism chapter – role of hypothalamus in thermoregulation
The news item: Recently the following news report appeared online:
FDA approves nonhormonadrug to treat hot flashes and night sweats
The new drug, fezolinetant, could be a “game-changer” for women who don’t want to take hormone replacement therapy or who have been treated for hormone-sensitive cancers.
The article states that a new pharmaceutical called Veozah was approved for use to combat hot flashes in women undergoing menopause. The article states that while estrogen supplementation is the most effective treatment for hot flashes, breast cancer survivors can not take estrogen, and for those women now there is an alternative; Veozah was effective in 48% of the patients. The article also states that Veozah blocks a receptor in the brain.
So, Why Do I Care?? There are 4 million breast cancer survivors who can now take advantage of this treatment. Hot flashes can lower one’s quality of life to the degree that holding down a job, or socializing is difficult.
Plain English, Please!!! First, let’s talk about what are “hot flashes”. Hot flash is a brief feeling of being overheated even when the environment has a normal temperature. During hot flashes the body creates sweating and vasodilation, the normal responses to true overheating. Because there is no real overheating of the body, hot flashes are considered instances of abnormal temperature regulation. Commonly, hot flashes happen in menopause when estrogen levels decrease in women.
Second, let’s talk about how our bodies normally respond to overheating. Our core body temperature is maintained at 100 oF by a biological thermostat. Picture the thermostat in our homes: when the house is